While reopening the Tesla manufacturing plant in Alameda, California, Elon Musk seems to have made progress on his bizarre pledge earlier this month to sell off “almost all physical possessions” and “own no house.” Musk recently told podcast host Joe Rogan that he plans on renting instead.
I am selling almost all physical possessions. Will own no house.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2020
According to The Los Angeles Times, Musk has privately listed seven California properties for sale on Zillow, including six properties in Bel-Air near Hollywood and another in Silicon Valley. In total, the individual properties have a listing value of nearly $100 million, and the listings include a 47-acre estate in northern California.
The Hollywood Reporter notes that Musk has also listed the former house of the late actor Gene Wilder, a quirky building down the road from his main residence. Musk has said that he will only part with the actor’s home on the condition that it’s not “torn down” or allowed to “lose any of its soul.”
During a recent appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Musk said he originally purchased properties adjacent to his main house in order to have more privacy. At one point, Musk was planning on building his “dream house,” which he jokingly said would include a “dome that opens up with a stealth helicopter.”
“But then I was like, man, does it really make sense for me to spend time designing and building a house,” remarked Musk. “Or should I be allocating that time to getting us to Mars? I should probably do the latter.”
“You can only do so many things,” said Musk. “Allocating time to building a house, even if it was a really great house, still is not a good use of time relative to developing the rockets necessary to get us to Mars and helping solve sustainable energy.”
Musk originally said he would sell his possessions during an eccentric Twitter rant on May 1. The Tesla CEO immediately followed up by remarking that Tesla stock was too high in his opinion and shortly after posted excerpts from the Star Spangled Banner, but phrasing the last line as a question.
Since reopening his manufacturing plant this week, Musk has been fielding requests from politicians and public officials in Texas, including from Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and a county judge, asking him to relocate.
Exactly right. @elonmusk Dem state legislators should not be tweeting expletives at their constituents. As Davy Crockett famously said, “You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas!” https://t.co/VLV9Dob7BC
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 15, 2020
Cruz’s remarks appear to be in reference to California Assemblymember Lorena Gonzales, who tweeted an expletive at Musk, and followed-up by justifying it because “no one would have cared if I tweeted” without the expletive.
California has highly subsidized a company that has always disregarded worker safety & well-being, has engaged in union busting & bullies public servants. I probably could’ve expressed my frustration in a less aggressive way. Of course, no one would’ve cared if I tweeted that.
— Lorena (@LorenaSGonzalez) May 10, 2020
Musk replied: “Message received.”
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